Grumpy and Slinkie explore the Roman Empire

[Grumpy1]

Subtitled: The Emperor had no clothes

Greetings from the lovely Noordam! Grumpy finally has a little time to sit down and peck out a few lines and update you all on his and Slinkie's Noordam Adventures. It all began on August 17 with a leisurely drive across Alligator Alley to Miami Airport. The Lufthansa Flight was scheduled for 3:30p so Grumpy figured that leaving home at 10a would give him plenty of time, even with the new security procedures. Grumpy arrived in the vicinity of the airport about noon and started following the signs for rental car return. That took him into the airport, almost to the terminal, then back out of the airport to the rental car location that must have been a couple of miles away. Note to Grumpy: look it up on the map next time and find the short way!

After turning in the rental and dragging the luggage aboard the shuttle, it was time for a ten minute bus ride and finally they arrived at the terminal just before 1p. The Lufthansa line was very long, but did move fairly quickly. At 1:30 Slinkie & Grumpy were standing in front of the ticket counter presenting tickets and passports. The clerk wasn't saying much, but finally said something about the name not matching. Grumpy told him to look on the last page for Slinkie's name change. OK, we're finally done with Slinkie. Now he starts processing Grumpy. After several minutes of click clacking around his keyboard, he takes Grumpy's passport and walks away, saying he has to photocopy it. Slinkie & Grumpy wait... and wait... finally after 15 minutes, the clerk comes back, clicks the keyboard a few more times and hands Slinkie & Grumpy their passorts and boarding passes. No explanation for what the holdup was all about, but Grumpy figures he's on somebody's list... and he's betting it isn't Santa's "nice" list!

Now it is after 2p and Slinkie & Grumpy still haven't had lunch, but there's still one more security line to clear. That one went quickly. Grumpy knows the routine. He had already removed everything from his pockets and put it in his computer bag, pulled off his belt and put it in too, wristwatch and eyeglasses next, shoe strings had been untied. Pulled out the laptop and put it in a tray, put the shoes in another tray, put the laptop case on the belt and walked through with nary a peep from the machine and was waved right past the secondary checkpoint. A couple of minutes to put things back in place and off they go to find some lunch. Even with the delays there was plenty of time. Grumpy's observation was that everyone seemed to understand about the security regulations and was very cooperative.

The plane was at the gate, but the 3p planned boarding time came and went. Boarding finally started about 20 minutes late, boarding went smoothly and everyone was ready to go... except for one passenger. Seems that someone that had already checked in and checked bags but was denied boarding or decided not to fly, so naturally they had to find and remove the luggage. OK, that's finally done and they take off, about 45 minutes late, headed for Frankfurt. The planned layover there is 1-1/2 hours, so it's still doable for the connection to Rome. Even a bit of good news.. the estimated arrival time gets earlier a few minutes as the flight goes along. The bright spot of the day was the person in the third seat in Slinkie & Grumpy's row. A bit into the flight he asks the question " do you ever go on a cruise ship?" Turns out that he is a waiter on one of the Carnival ships and was headed home to India for a month between contracts. Slinkie & Grumpy enjoyed talking with him and it helped to pass the time.

Arrival in Frankfurt was about 1/2 four late, so that gave Slinkie & Grumpy a little under an hour to ge to the gate for the plane to Rome. Passport control was very quick, but security screening lines were a little slower. Grumpy observed that the people weren't required to remove shoes, but otherwise, it was about the same as Miami, so Grumpy went through his routine and zipped right on through. Moving as quickly as possible, they arrived at the gate with a couple a minutes to spare. It's a good thing they were fed on the plane, because there was certainly no time to pause for breakfast. The flight was uneventful and on time and it wasn't long before Slinkie & Grumpy had made their way to the baggage claim. They had arranged for a driver to pick them up and transfer to the hotel Mascagni, and Grumpy kept looking around to see if he could spot him while watching the nearly empty carousel go round and round. Grumpy figures they must have one person that carries two bags at a time from the plane to the carousel... there's no other way it could take that long to unload luggage. Finally, Slinkie's small bag show's up. And they wait... and wait... They're starting to hear grumbles from lots of others that are not finding their luggage either... and Grumpy still hasn't found the driver. There are no more bags from Frankfurt showing up and bags from Madrid are starting to dribble out, so... the only thing that can be done is register with the baggage claim office. The line isn't too long, but it moves slower than the average glacier. It seems that in Rome, one baggage service company, European Air Service, handles baggage claims for about 20 different airlines, and all of them have baggage problems to handle. Grumpy finally gets to the counter, they "think" the luggage is still in Frankfurt and will be in on a flight at 2p and they will deliver it to the hotel. After filling out the paperwork and giving them a copy of the itinerary all the way to Istanbul, Slinkie & Grumpy take their computer bags and one lone checked bag and clear customs. Once in the outside world, they take a look around for the driver, but not finding him by the information stand they opt to take the train to Termini. At Termini, they are about 1/4 mile from the Mascagni, but Grumpy's detailed map was in one of the bags that didn't appear, so he sprung for a cab to the hotel.

Upon arrival, Grumpy had several messages... no, none about the mising bags, just the driver checking to see if they had heard from Slinkie & Grumpy. The desk clerk called him to let him know that they were indeed in Rome and explained why they had been unable to connect with him. The room was quite nice, but the bed was about the softness of concrete. Slinkie & Grumpy decided to go for a walk and pick up a toothbrush and razor for Grumpy. Slinkie had most of what she needed in the bag that had arrived... including a couple of changes of clothes. Poor Grumpy was feeling much akin to the Emperor from the childhood fairy tales. He didn't have any clothes either. They swung back by the hotel and Grumpy was able to freshen up a bit before donning his dayold duds again. Snifff, sniff... not too bad, but better go heavy on the deodorant... Grumpy tried to call the baggage service number, but no answer on the phone. By now, it's been about 30 hours with very little sleep. Slinkie is Grumpy and Grumpy is grumpier. A good Italian dinner will be much appreciated. Slinkie & Grumpy had seen a nice place right around the corner earlier, so they headed that direction. Entering the doors at about 6p they were politely told to come back at seven, at which time they would open for dinner. Now, understand, Slinkie & Grumpy are Florida Retirees. Dinner is almost always before 6p. (Happy hour ends at 6 and so does the early bird discount) 7p is like a midnight dinner. After walking a few more blocks, they finally found a restaurant that was open. The food was not great, but it was OK. Maybe waiting a little longer for the first place to open would have been a good idea.

Back at the hotel and more tries at calling about the luggage. Still no answer. OK, there is a website for tracking claims, so try that. After several attempts to get the website to load, Grumpy was finally able to log in ang see the status... no report... baggage not located, check back later. Nothing more to do that night, so might as well turn in. Grumpy can handle a hard mattress, but not Slinkie. There was a fairly thick blanket in the closet, so they folded it over double and put it under the bottom sheet on Slinkie's side. That softened the concrete just enough to be bearable and Slinkie & Grumpy enjoyed a peaceful nights sleep. Grumpy has been rather surprised at how well Slinkie has been accepting the missing luggage problem. He hasn't figured out if she was just accepting the fact that there wasn't much she could do... or if she was looking forward to a huge shopping spree. Grumpy had already checked to make sure they had lost baggage insurance. Come the dawn and still no answer on the phone and nothing on the website. Oh, well, what will be will be.... After a quite good breakfast at the hotel, Slinkie & Grumpy were picked up by their driver just after 10:00a. Grumpy told the driver to swing by the airport on the way to the port so he could check with the baggage claim. The driver must have been aspiring to become a Formula One race car driver... in no time at all he pulled into the airport and Grumpy, paperwork in hand headed for the baggage claim. The lines were longer than the day before and moving even slower. Grumpy, by this time, was having none of that baloney, so he stationed himself by the door that the guy that handles bags, not papers, uses, and when he came out, Grumpy snagged him, showed him the paperwork and asked if the bags had been found. He led Grumpy to an area with a few hundred bags and said to look and see. OK, let's see... YESSSSS! That one!... and that one! .... and THAT ONE! They were all three there! A couple of signatures later and Grumpy with three bags were out of there. Never has Grumpy been so glad to see luggage! Mario Andretti, Jr, headed up the road to Civitavecchia. Now it's been mentioned that it's usually about two hours from Rome to the port. Mario didn't pick Slinkie & Grumpy up until 10:15, they stopped for 20-25 minutes at the airport... and arrived at the port just a few minutes past noon! Grumphy saw the speedometer register in the 170 to 180 km/h range several times. For those that are metrically challanged, 161 km/h is 100mph. They arrived in one piece, though and turned over the larger two of those precious bags to the baggage handlers. The smaller ones were not about to be left to their own devices again though.

Hand luggage and passengers were screened upon entering the terminal and before checking in. After passing that screening, Grumpy waltzed past the fairly long line of passengers checking in and proceeded to the Suite check in line. There was no one in line and a couple of minutes later Slinkie & Grumpy were on the Noordam. Staterooms were not ready yet, so they headed to the Neptune, left the carryons in the care of our lovely concierge and headed to the Lido for lunch.

Noordam is definitely bigger than the other HAL ships that Slinkie & Grumpy have been on, but it seems pretty easy to get around... just a lot further. The announcement that rooms were ready came during lunch, So Slinkie & Grumpy retrieved their belongings from the Neptune and went down the hall to their new home. Grumpy has to say that the Cat SA cabins are very nice and spacious. There is a lot of closet space. There is a three section closet about five feet long just inside the door (fold down shelves if you want or full length hanging space in two sections) and another set of closets of similar size in the dressing room opposite the makeup table. The makeup table has three drawers. The bathroom has a medicine cabinet at both ends of the long double bowl vanity with a shelf underneath. There is a whirlpool tub with a handheld shower head on an adjustable height mount. There is also a separate shower stall. There are drawers under the end of the bed, in the desk, and in the night stands. One drawer in each night stand can be locked. There are also storage cupboards below the desk, under the end table by the couch and under the bar. Several of the cupboards were occupied by extra bedding and pillows. There were five pillows on the bed and at least that many more stuffed away. Choose the firmness you want. It's there somewhere. Slinkie & Grumpy have closets and drawers they haven't used.. yet... but Slinkie hasn't done much shopping... yet! The verandah is very spacious, a table with four chairs and two arm chairs with ottomans are provided and there is still some extra space. The TV is a 16:9 ratio widescreen 23" diagonal measurement, LG brand panel TV. Now if there was just something to watch on it.... BBC World is the only news channel available.

Slinkie & Grumpy have taken to hanging out in the Piano Bar after dinner instead of taking in the shows. Their friend Randall Powell from the 2005 world cruise is tickling the ivories and singing. On the Prinsendam, Randall played in the Crow's Nest since there is no Piano Bar. He was under strict orders to play, not sing, until after 9p, so Randall could not really be Randall until late at night. Here he can cut loose and he draws some pretty good audiences. He will be on board until the first week in January. He had planned to join the cast of the show "Hairspray" in June, but has postponed that until January. He doesn't plan to come back to the ships after January as he has other irons in the fire. Slinkie & Grumpy would have to look it up to see who the Piano Player on Rotterdam was... he just didn't make any impression at all. It's been really good to see Randall again.

Grumpy will not dwell on the group that he and Slinkie are a part of. While few will argue with the purpose of the Freedom Alliance... providing scholarships for the children of our service men and women that have died in the service of our country... Grumpy knows that there are several of his friends on the boards here that do not agree with the politics of some of the major speakers and of the cosponsor, which is the NRA. So, although Slinkie & Grumpy are thoroughly enjoying the panel discussions and sharing their views with about 135 like minded people, they won't go into details about the forums. Suffice it to say that Slinkie getting her picture taken with Ollie and Newt has made her a happy girl.

Grumpy also knows that there has been a lot of discussions about groups on board and how they impact other cruisers. With 135 people, this group is over 5% but less than 10% of the passengers, but there are only a couple of venues that can accomodate a group of that size. Some of the activities are held in the Queen's Lounge/Culinary Arts center, but not at times that activities would normally be scheduled, so there has not been an impact there that Grumpy knows of. Sunday, which was a sea day, the Crow's Nest was set aside for the group from early in the morning until late afternoon. That probably did impact other cruisers, as the Noordam sailed through the straits of Messina during the morning and there were probably people that would have liked to relax in the Crow's Nest and enjoy the scenery. Grumpy wishes there had been another venue that could have been used.

Today was the first port, Dubrovnik, Croatia. HAL was selling a roundtrip bus ticket from the port to the Old Town for $10 per person. Slinkie & Grumpy opted to take a taxi. Ten Euro each way for 5 people. Worked out cheaper than the bus. Slinkie & Grumpy went through Pile Gate and went up the stairs to the top of the wall. They walked around the seaward side to the gate at the far end and then made their way back through town, stopping in dozens of little shops. It is a very interesting town and obviously needs the tourist industry to thrieve. Slinkie & Grumpy enjoyed their time there. No major purchases to report, though... After getting back to the ship and having lunch, Slinkie & Grumpy grabbed their laptops and headed to the Neptune, which is a good internet hotspot, signed up for a package and retrieved their backlog of Email. Grumpy decided it was time to start putting together his report, but didn't get it posted before sailaway, which is why you are reading this now instead of yesterday. By the time this gets posted it will probably be time for Slinkie & Grumpy to wander around Corfu... another place where taking a taxi to town will probably be cheaper than taking the HAL shuttle.

That's about enough for the first installment. Grumpy will try to get back to the thread a few times during the cruise and answer any questions. By the way, it was announced to our group this afternoon that there has been a lot of interest expressed by other passengers that had seen him around the ship and Newt Gingrich, who is a very good historian, has been invited to, and has agreed to address all of the passengers in the Vista Lounge next Monday afternoon.

So, until another day...

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks for reporting in.

 

So glad that you were able to get all of your luggage before you sailed.

 

Your description of the SA suite sounds exactly like the one I did on here back in 2004 when we were on our first Vista class ship - Oosterdam.

[crystal808]

Grumpy:

 

Great to "read" from you! :) So glad you were able to recover your luggage.

 

Hope the heat isn't too much there...plenty of water, hats, and try to keep the credit card on ice! :D

 

Looking forward to reading more reports....

 

Smooth sailing,

Paul

[babyher]

Grumpy,

 

So glad that you were able to get all your luggage before sailing and that you are enjoying the ship and your trip so far.

 

Thank you so much for reporting in , I think I speak for many on the board that we always enjoy your reviews.

 

Wishing you both a wonderful time :)

 

Looking forward to the next installment :)

 

Enjoy!!!!! :)

[localady]

Grumpy-

Great to hear from you!! So glad your baggage situation was handled!!

Could you tell me who the Capt., HM and CD are on the ship. Looking forward to sailing the Noordam in just about a month.

Smooth seas and sunny skies!:cool:

[jhannah]

The anticipation for your travelogue has been akin to kids waiting for Rowling's next installment of "Harry Potter!" ;) How good it is to have you back in the saddle again.

 

Thanks for your report. Now you and Slinkie Cat sit back, relax, and thoroughly enjoy your cruise. Ain't the Noordam bootiful?

[LizB1]

Great report, Grumpy. And,oh, the joys of flying these days! Just glad to hear you finally were able to get all the luggage.

 

Look forward to your next installment.

[fcorey]

Grumpy, thank you for posting, your travelogues are always entertaining and well done. They're a chance for the rest of us to live vicariously through your eyes. Have a wonderful trip

[Bucky3]

Jhannah said it all! Just want to add best wishes and thanks for your wonderful travelogue. Looking forward to the next chapter. Enjoy!

[SDHALFAN]

Thanks for checking in again Grumpy. It is always fun to read your entertaining reports. Hope that you and Slinkie are having a wonderful time, and I look forward with much anticipation to your next chapter.

 

Valerie:)

[dakrewser]

While the re-appearance of the luggage may have caused delight in Grumpy's eyes I'n sure Slinkie's shopping plans will stay in force - and perhaps new luggage might be needed before the trip ends!

 

This does reinforce my belief that Lufthansa is by far the worst carrier when it comes to luggage handling. For a cruise we took out of, yes, Civitavechia back in '00 there were a couple of dozen passengers who had to leave port without their luggage which trickled in over the first four ports. All had flown Lufthansa, but on different flights from different points. Amazing!

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Like all the others I too enjoyed your travelogue. So glad that luggage arrive:) I am sure in your next report that Slinkie will have gone shopping, we would not want her to fall behind:D

Thanks:)

[hammybee]

Thank you AGAIN for making the time to tell us about your adventures. I can't wait for the next installment.

[Williebill]

Grumpy & Slinkey, your adventures from the time you left Miami until you finally got on the ship wore me out; I really felt the tension. Once you arrived on board ship, it seemed that I was able to feel the great feeling of relaxation that the two of you must have felt; isn't it a wonderful feeling once you do get on board a ship.

 

Have a wonderful cruise!!!

 

Bill

[booboo29]

I LOVE when Grumpy and Slinkie go on vacation!!!:D Reading their posts is better than television.

 

Have a great trip Grumpy and Slinkie!

 

Frank and Jennifer

[ekerr19]

Grumpy & Slinkie -

 

Thanks so much for checking in with us! Ironically, the folks who FINALLY got their luggage on our sailing (in Santorini, no less!) had all flown on Lufthansa too. We opted for Delta this time around and had no worries, thankfully.

 

Though Sonny was a tad getting worried when he realized the small bit of Italian I'd conquered was the word "Saldi" for SALE!!! There were sales everywhere while we were in Rome, lol!

 

We got a real kick out of Randall, it was our first time seeing him perform - he's quite a character. :)

 

Keep the reports coming - we miss the Noordam!

[sarawr]

Hi Grumpy - I thought you might be posting about your Noordam adventures so I made the trip over here from our Prinsendam roll call.

 

You've thoroughly terrified Karen with your lost luggage story - we're flying Calgary to Frankfurt to Rome with Lufthansa on Friday.

 

Looking forward to hearing more about the Noordam, and we'll see you on the 30th!

[sirarthur]

Grumpy,

 

You have a gift at writing travelogs! As you can see, we all appreciate your efforts. Have a wonderful and safe trip.

[BuckeyeGal1956]

Just checked S&G's itinerary for their return flights (Istanbul-Frankfurt-Miami) on Lufthansa. They have about an hour and a half in Frankfurt ... anyone want to place odds on whether their luggage makes it to Miami? Unfortunately, can't offer prizes ... just clever comments from some, I'm sure.

[AlohaPride]

Thank You so very much for the AWESOME report!! I'm so excited to hear Randall when we are on the Noordam this Christmas. DH and I had already planned to spend most of our evening time in the Piano Bar - as we LOVE live music, and this just is the icing on the cake!

 

I'm so jealous about the group you are with! I think if I were on that ship, I would be running around with a signature pad like a kid at Disney Land. I'll leave that comment as is...

 

I'm really glad to hear you were able to get your bags! I was worried for a bit. Not for slinky, as she can shop, but more for Grumpy who would have lost luggage AND bills from shopping :rolleyes:

 

The Suite sounds DIVINE! I'm so glad you were able to get on. Not to mention the all inclusive laundry services ;)

 

And, as Jhannah said, I look forward to your next installment as much (or more) than I look forward to book 7 of the Harry Potter series!!:D

[HeatherInFlorida]

There you are!!! So glad you got there safe and sound and it's fun to read about yet another journey for our Grumpy and Slinkie! Say "hi" to the Cat for me:)

 

P.S. I'll get "the rest of the story" another way ;)

[RuthC]

At last! Oh, how I've been looking for this report! Glad you retrieved your luggage and got to the ship safe and sound. Now you can relax and enjoy. And post all about it! :) As only you can. ;)

As a loyal reader, may I ask a favor? Could you please hit the "enter" key once in a while for extra spacing? You know I love reading every word you type, but it was kind of hard on my eyes reading all these words.

Thanks. I'd really appreciate it.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Oh, Ruth, I'm so glad you said that. I wish you could have seen me trying to read this.:eek:

 

Grumpy, have to tell you I climbed those very same stairs in 1985!!! Much younger then, I still thought I was going fall off the side since there was no railing and they were so narrow. I loved Dubrovnik (not Croatia then) and we found an amazing little restaurant we'd been told about.

 

In Corfu, watch out for "Johnny"!!! He probably died by now, but he promised us a "tour of the town". He said we would do the entire town for $25. DH, very proud, talked him down to $15 and Johnny "took us for a ride" in his donkey cart. Around town was right! We made a circle and were back in 5 minutes.

 

Then they were selling flat blanket type bags at the pier for $5 each. Hearing we could bargain with them on Corfu, I asked how much for 3? He looked at me like I was nuts and said "3 is $15!!!" Boy did I feel stupid!:D

[arzz]

Do continue to have a great trip -- as that way we vicarious cruisers will also have a wonderful time!

[jhannah]

Grumpy, since you have such a loyal following you should write a book. Simply compile your tales of cruising into one volume. Such a tome, I'm convinced, would outsell "Walter the Farting Dog Goes on a Cruise."

 

;)